***SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS VS. PITTSBURGH STEELERS GAMEDAY THREAD (MONDAY NIGHT) ***

Originally posted by Niners99:
yeah, its ALEX who chooses not to throw deep.

Alex does what hes told. you think he has free reign of the playcalling? hes wearing a wristband. he probably has a small handful of audibles to choose from if he sees a certain defensive scheme at the line, but for the most part I think hes doing as hes told.

the notion that he doesnt throw deep because hes "scared" is ignorant. we just dont have the pass catchers to throw deep a whole lot. Ginn and Williams can burn, but Ginn has hands of stone, and Williams is still very raw. Davis gets double covered on every play, and also has hands of stone. same with Braylon. Crabtree isnt fast enough.

We dont have that fast guy who can leap up and pull deep balls down. you need that kind of guy, otherwise youre going to be throwing alot of picks. its not smart playcalling. Its never been a question of whether Smith has the "balls" to throw deep, or the ability. All his WR need to have already beaten the defender, and then get a PERFECTLY thrown ball, or else they cant make the play.

easy there killer........By "balls" I'm saying he appears overly worried about turning the ball over. He has a right to be too. As u mentioned, some of his pass catchers have horrible hands. Ginn has had several bounce off his hands this season, 1 even went right to a defender for a INT.
I never said he calls the plays and I never said he doesn't do what he is told...... I think he plays to conservative at times, just my opinion. I wasn't hanging that loss on him or calling him out.

Originally posted by wailers15:
We have issues on the o-line its obvious. Just not in pass protection but in the running game to.

Agree. I hate watching other games or highlights and seeing the other QB's drop back or play-action and have completely clean pocket with no pressure and a ton of time to scan the field for a receiver. It gets very frustrating to watch week in and week out.

Originally posted by nannite:
Who's got worse pass protection than us?!

NO ONE!

Aww man, That's F*CKED!! Funny, but still f**ked!

Our pass protection? the league's worst, easily.

Originally posted by Niners99:

Originally posted by AKfanster:
Can ANYBODY teach the O-line how to pick up a blitz properly? These guys are just plain bad when the heat is on.

It's almost like they just guess and hope for the best.


Also, what the hell is with all the dropped passes? Several in every game. Its bad enough Alex doesnt have the time, or the balls, to throw deep..........they could atleast catch the dump-offs and quick outs

yeah, its ALEX who chooses not to throw deep.

Alex does what hes told. you think he has free reign of the playcalling? hes wearing a wristband. he probably has a small handful of audibles to choose from if he sees a certain defensive scheme at the line, but for the most part I think hes doing as hes told.

the notion that he doesnt throw deep because hes "scared" is ignorant. we just dont have the pass catchers to throw deep a whole lot. Ginn and Williams can burn, but Ginn has hands of stone, and Williams is still very raw. Davis gets double covered on every play, and also has hands of stone. same with Braylon. Crabtree isnt fast enough.

We dont have that fast guy who can leap up and pull deep balls down. you need that kind of guy, otherwise youre going to be throwing alot of picks. its not smart playcalling. Its never been a question of whether Smith has the "balls" to throw deep, or the ability. All his WR need to have already beaten the defender, and then get a PERFECTLY thrown ball, or else they cant make the play.

"game manager"

Originally posted by eastie:
Our pass protection? the league's worst, easily.

No.

Go, Niners, go!

Originally posted by mayo49:
Go, Niners, go!

Matt Maiocco @MaioccoCSN
RT @1WinningDrive John Harbaugh said he will help his brother, Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers, help beat the Steelers - bmob.us/266

Originally posted by valrod33:
Matt Maiocco @MaioccoCSN
RT @1WinningDrive John Harbaugh said he will help his brother, Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers, help beat the Steelers - bmob.us/266

Yeah, he wants them KO'd out the playoffs!

Until they learn how to block an overload blitz, it will continue to get exposed. None of the OL's are getting consistently beat one on one, but defenses are just shifting the blitz to one side of the line bring 4 people vs 3 blockers. Alex needs to recognize this and either audible to a run away from the blitz, or throw a hot route away from the blitz. Why they arent audibling out of play action during obvious blitzes is beyond me, and Alex need to get the ball out quicker. He gets stuck staring at the blitz rather than looking towards the side of the field where there is a play to be made.

What I've been noticing...

Sometimes the protection is good but the QB doesn't see the open man, or...

The protection breaks down and the receivers don't change their routes to help, or...

The protection's good the QB sees the open man but the receiver drops it, or...

The protection breaks down, receivers are open but the QB can't get the ball off on time.

In a nutshell our offense is very inconsistent as it's not just one or two areas that needs attention but many areas. This will take a complete off-season to fix so all the team can do now is just play it out and hope for the best. Sucks but that's what it is, plain and simple.

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:

Originally posted by valrod33:
Matt Maiocco @MaioccoCSN
RT @1WinningDrive John Harbaugh said he will help his brother, Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers, help beat the Steelers - bmob.us/266

Yeah, he wants them KO'd out the playoffs!

Originally posted by Rubberneck36:

Originally posted by valrod33:
Matt Maiocco @MaioccoCSN
RT @1WinningDrive John Harbaugh said he will help his brother, Jim Harbaugh and the 49ers, help beat the Steelers - bmob.us/266

Yeah, he wants them KO'd out the playoffs!

it would be sweet to beat the steelers

Thanks for that breakdown OP.

The biggest problem with pass protection right now is what is happening in the middle of the line. It starts with Goodwin who has now shown himself to not be strong enough to handle a hard charge up the middle. All season long, but especially since the Baltimore game, the biggest problem in pass protection is the front of the pocket is pushed back into Smith's face. This prevents him from stepping up into the throw. No QB can be consistently effective under those conditions.

Part of the problem has been the health of Snyder and Rachal's inability to play at this level. Another part is that teams have taken advantage of relatively wide splits in the OL and finding room for delayed and overloaded blitzes coming up the middle. (EDIT NOTE: Good pass protecting teams have closed the line splits to create so much congestion that there is no room for a blitzer to come up the middle. So while this does not solve overloads on the outside, it does allow the QB the room to step up. AZ did this well with Skelton.)

Finally, while the QB can change the play, it is up to the center to adjust the protection to account for blitzers. Obviously, that has not been happening. I don't know whether that is all on Goodwin for not making the correct call, players missing assignments, players lacking technique/ability to pass protect, or a combination of all of those. I suspect the latter. In any case, this team will not survive the first round of the playoffs if they cannot solve the pass protection problem.

The last two posters nailed it ^